Tactical applications of high power laser weapon systems require compact and lightweight beam control systems (BCSs) that can be carried on a variety of tactical platforms. These platforms include ground vehicles, manned and unmanned aircrafts, helicopters, and naval ships. The BCS acquires the target from a battle manager, tracks (and possibly identifies) the target, and determines an aim point on the target either manually or automatically. The BCS further focuses, points, and maintains the high energy laser beam on the desired aim point until the target is destroyed. Current state-of-the-art BCSs include adaptive optics for compensating the phase aberrations of the high energy laser beam at the target. These adaptive optics systems typically include a “beacon” laser for creating a pseudo-star on the target and a wave front sensor for measuring the phase aberration of the return signal generated by the pseudo-star. The phase measurement from the return signal is then used to command a deformable mirror for correcting the phase aberrations at the target. The “beacon” laser and wave front sensor adds complexity, weight, volume, and cost to the BCS.